40
DECEMBER 2013 PRO INSTALLER
PRO BUSINESS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
NEW FACTORY FOR VS, BIFOLD
AND PATIO DOOR PRODUCTION
Following the exceptional growth in demand enjoyed by
VS windows, bi folding doors and patio doors, Glazerite
is equipping a 12,000 ft2 (1,115 m2) factory close to
the company’s head office and principal production
facility at Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
specifically to handle production of these products.
The move will take
place during the first
quarter of 2014 and will
also provide an increase
of 25% to its main line
production capacity.
It will also provide comfort
to customers in that Glazerite already have a capacity
in place, which is in excess
of its forecasted sales growth
for next year.
Investment has exceeded £600,000 for the new
factory, including machinery,
forklift trucks and two new
vehicles. A total of 38 new
staff have been employed
during 2013 bringing the
current total to 174 and a
number of these will move
into the new plant.
Glazerite will continue to
manufacture in its exist-
ing factory until the end
of March 2014, with no
disruption to existing lead
times as the lines will be run
in parallel until the new facility is fully commissioned.
Thereafter customers will be
able to enjoy the results of
the greater efficiencies.
show that people have had
enough and are no longer
prepared to put up with
nonsense excuses.
“Either way, it’s good to see
so many people on the side
of restoring common sense.”
HSE Chair Judith Hackitt
said: “It’s becoming increasingly clear just how many
petty jobsworths there are
hiding behind health and
safety for fear of being sued
or because they simply can’t
be bothered. I want more
people to have the confidence to challenge these
excuses. If it doesn’t make
sense to you then you are
probably being fobbed off –
many people are beginning
to realise that now.”
The Myth Busters Challenge Panel was set up
in April 2012 to help the
public challenge petty
and misguided decisions
wrongly made in the name
of health and safety. Since
then there has been more
than 210 complaints to the
Panel, with the huge majority of cases having no basis
in law.
Visit www.
glazeritewindows.co.uk.
Investment And
New UK Map
Campaign To Help Of Bogus ‘Elf
Small Firms Grow And Safety
Excuses
Business Secretary,
Vince Cable, kicked off
a wave of activity last
month to boost small
businesses, including
unveiling the first funding allocation from the
British Business Bank’s
investment programme
and launching a campaign to help small
firms grow.
In addition to this, Vince
Cable also set out other
measures that will provide
support to small businesses, such as:
• A new £1 million Sector
Mentoring Challenge
Fund that will enable
firms to benefit from
support and advice from
experienced business
people in their own field
of work
• The successful Growth
Accelerator scheme,
which provides specialised coaching to small
businesses with highgrowth potential, will
have helped 10,000 firms
in the coming weeks.
• Business Secretary Vince
Cable said, “We have
set out a comprehensive package of measures that will address
the concerns of small
firms.
“The first investments
from the British Business Bank’s investment
programme will provide
choice to smaller businesses looking to secure
vital finance to help invest.
Alongside cutting red tape
and increasing the take
up of business rate relief,
government has already
made significant progress
in improving the business
outlook for small firms
and entrepreneurs.”
A new business support
website, www.greatbusiness.gov.uk will also
make it easy to access the
services and products,
including Manufacturing
Advice Service, National
Apprenticeship Service
and Growth Accelerator, that help businesses
grow.
Londoners report
most ‘jobsworth’ decisions to myth buster
panel – with Scots
and Welsh at other
end of league table.
More people in London and the South East
have reported ill-founded
health and safety excuses
than any other part of the
UK, new analysis shows.
Britain’s workplace safety regulator, the Health
and Safety Executive, has
analysed the national
spread of all reports to
the popular Myth Busters
Challenge Panel – set up
to clamp down on bogus
health and safety excuses.
The results show that
more people report that
they’re told “sorry, can’t
do that because of ‘elf and
safety’” in the capital and
the South East than anywhere else – with more
than fifty cases reported
over the past year.
The results also show:
• Yorkshire has the second
worst reporting rate for
absurd edicts – with 22
complaints; and
• Wales and the Highlands
of Scotland have received
the least number of
complaints about ‘elf and
safety excuses.
Minister for Health and
Safety Mike Penning said:
“Health and Safety regulations save lives – but bogus
excuses do nothing more
than throw a spanner in
the works of otherwise
sensible activity. “No doubt
the figures will raise an
interesting debate about
whether they reveal the
extent of over-zealousness or
Anyone who suspects a
case of ‘health and safety
madness’ can contact the
independent panel of experts if they feel they have
been on the wrong end of
a ridiculous decision at:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/
myth/index.htm